UPDATE 2 - Turkish, Ukrainian leaders meet in Lviv for talks

UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS; MINOR EDITS

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

Erdogan, who is in the Ukrainian city of Lviv on a day-long visit, held talks with Zelenskyy at the Potocki Palace. According to the Turkish presidency, the leaders were expected to discuss all aspects of Türkiye-Ukraine relations.

The closed-door meeting lasted around two hours.

The bilateral talks are being followed by a trilateral summit with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Erdogan, Zelenskyy, and Guterres will discuss steps that can be taken to end the Ukraine-Russia war through diplomatic means, and maintain the mechanism established for the export of Ukrainian grain to world markets, the Turkish presidency said.

They are expected to hold a joint news conference after the trilateral meeting.

On July 22, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul to reopen three Ukrainian Black Sea ports for exporting Ukrainian grain stuck due to the war, which is now in its sixth month.

To oversee the process, a Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul was opened on July 27, comprising representatives from the three countries and the UN, to enable the safe transportation of commercial foodstuffs and fertilizers by merchant ships.

Guterres is also scheduled to visit the Ukrainian port city of Odesa to observe the shipment of grain. He will head to Türkiye on Saturday and visit the JCC in Istanbul.

- Turkish, Ukrainian defense chiefs meet

On the sidelines of Erdogan-Zelenskyy meeting, Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar met his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov.

Akar and Reznikov exchanged views on bilateral and regional defense and security issues, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said in a statement.